Funny how there is always such a rush to judgement when something like this happens and NOBODY knows the facts!

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I'm sure those on the scene know the facts, the rest is conjecture. Once there's a medical issue the stakes change... again conjecture but the qualification & decision is the job of the skipper/master to act in the best interests of the passengers & crew, that means looking after the boat to a point, that point is critical, early is good... late can be bad.
As nice as that boat is, it's really just a bit of shapely composite with some shiny stuff & electronic baubles installed...........

MRRC answers your Mayday, clarifies the situation , and if they decide that this is indeed a mayday, for whatever reason, and respond with helicopters and cutters , you must do what you are told. You cant call the helicopter as its circling overhead, change your mind and cancel the mayday . A false mayday carries a heavy penalty.

RAINMAKER UPDATE: Sustained winds were 30-35 knots. Squalls had been in the 40 knot range for most of the day. A full whiteout squall hit that initially looked no different than the other squalls. Sails were up as there was no indication of squalls with winds above 40 knots. A wall of wind hit at up to 70 knots. There was no opportunity to get the sails down. The mast came down with the wall of wind. Am simply relieved these guys are all safe.

The infrared video from the escort helicopter is worthless but the rescue 'copter's normal video shows not too bad seas and the boat looks to be in good shape. I'm sure there must be a salvage tug heading that direction. From what I could see, if it was my boat and I had at least one running diesel auxiliary engine with an un-fouled prop, I would still be on board IMHO.

I can see damaging the sails with a strong gust. What I don't understand is why they dismasted. Seems like a design flaw.

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That may be an engineered occurence in that dismasting may be preferential to capsize, I'm sure it will come out in the wash, the manufacturer should be pretty transparent in explanations to protect confidence in the product.

Reading the article they say the hulls were not damaged after the dismasting....then it says they violently collided with a 300+ foot ship almost getting sucked into the props when it tried to take them off. At this point the conditions of the hulls aren't mentioned but I'd think there would be significant damage. The rudders were intact before, running downwind would have been safer than a ship collision....helicopters on fumes don't really sound as safe as riding it out towing warps etc.....maybe more comfortable but any transfer in a storm has additional risks.....

I would do my best to avoid a distress call because of this scenario having a large steel ship in a solid seastate in close quarters is not something I'd like to happen on a lightly built multihull or any yacht for that matter unless 100% necessary. It makes you wonder how the wrap on the props happened did they not clear the rig properly prior to starting the motors? Or was a line thrown down from the ship that ended up fouling them?

They might have been running the motors with the reduced sail for more punch, or they could have been started to orient the boat with the waves before the mast jettison. Pretty common mistake to try running with lines in the water. If the boat got really banged up along with losing the rig it might be a total loss even when recovered. There is always the worry of hidden damage besides what is on the surface....All in all it seems a huge waste and unnecessary risks for the crew, people aboard the ship and the Coasties. I question the decision to send a ship in the first place, that never ends well for the boat, but then there are a lot of questions.

I haven't been where I can watch this video but on Cruisersforum there was a post saying a Coast Guard update video didn't mention a 70 knot squall but said that the mast was split by a wave coming on deck in 40 knots of wind and 13 foot seas. http://www.d17.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/2454846/ Not sure if this is the one.

Something else to ponder about, I imagine the insurance co. will be checking into everything.

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